Réjane Laberge-Colas Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Honourable
Réjane Laberge-Colas
Office:Judge of the Quebec Superior Court
Term Start:21 February 1969
Term End:1994
Birth Date:1923 10, df=yes
Birth Place:Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Death Place:Magog, Quebec, Canada
Occupation:Judge and lawyer
Appointer1:John Turner
Awards:Order of Canada (1997)
Education:

Réjane Laberge-Colas (8 October 19239 August 2009) was a judge of the Quebec Superior Court, sitting in Montreal, and the first woman to serve as a superior court judge in Canada.[1] She was a founder and the first president of the Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ). Laberge-Colas was inducted to the Order of Canada in 1997.

Legal career

After placing first in the 1952 Quebec bar exam,[2] Laberge-Colas began her career as in-house counsel to Aluminium Secretariat Ltd,[3] an affiliate of what is now Alcan.[4] In 1957, she took a position as an articling student at Geoffrion et Prud'homme, a corporate law firm. She was named a Queen's Counsel in 1968.

Laberge-Colas practised at Geoffrion et Prud'homme until 1969, when she was appointed to the bench. She served as a judge of the Quebec Superior Court until 1994.

Among other professional activities, Laberge served in the family law section of in the late 1960s and on an extraordinary challenge committee in connection with NAFTA in 1994.

Activism

In the mid-1960s, Laberge-Colas was a member of the Ligue des droits de l'homme du Quebec (Quebec Human Rights League), an organization which advocated for the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.[5]

Along with Thérèse Casgrain and Monique Bégin, Laberge-Colas founded the Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ) in Montreal during a conference that ran from 23 to 24 April 1966.[6] At the conference, Laberge-Colas was named the FFQ's first president. A number of members of the Ligue were also members of FFQ.

Personal life

Laberge-Colas was born in Montreal to Xiste Laberge and Isabelle Lefebvre. She married Émile Colas, a lawyer, in 1958.[7]

Works

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. News: The Canadian Press. Réjane Laberge-Colas (1923-2009) - Décès d'une pionnière de la magistrature. fr. Le Devoir. live. 25 June 2020. 26 June 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200626151507/https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/262419/rejane-laberge-colas-1923-2009-deces-d-une-pionniere-de-la-magistrature.
  2. Web site: 11 August 2009. Décès de l'honorable Réjane Laberge-Colas. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200626192542/https://www.droit-inc.com/article2810-Deces-de-l-honorable-Rejane-Laberge-Colas. 26 June 2020. Droit-Inc.. fr.
  3. News: Fitterman. Lisa. 24 August 2009. She shattered barriers in the courthouse. The Globe and Mail. live. 25 June 2020. 23 September 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200923034518/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/incoming/she-shattered-barriers-in-the-courthouse/article1201725/.
  4. See Book: Study of Monopoly Power: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Study of Monopoly Power of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Eighty-second Congress, First Session, Parts 1–4. Government Printing Office. 1951. 224. 20 September 2020. 23 September 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200923034533/https://books.google.com/books?id=EmNFAQAAMAAJ. live.
  5. Beaumier. Marie-Laurence B.. 2017. Les voix des femmes à la Ligue des droits de l'homme du Quebec : ouvertures, tensions, debats, 1963–1980. Recherches Féministes. fr. 30. 2. 240–241. 10.7202/1043931ar. free. 25 June 2020. 27 June 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200627012925/https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/rf/2017-v30-n2-rf03510/1043931ar/. live.
  6. Book: Bégin, Monique. Ladies, Upstairs!: My Life in Politics and After. McGill–Queen's University Press. 2019. 978-0-7735-5584-6. Montreal. 56. 1079008296. Monique Bégin.
  7. Web site: Legault. Marthe. 10 December 2013. Réjane L. Colas. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200627225648/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/rejane-l-colas. 27 June 2020. 25 June 2020. The Canadian Encyclopedia.